Grayson and Wilson
by O'Tooley
Summary: Dick Grayson battles against one of his oldest foes in his career as Nightwing, Deathstroke. But why would Deathstroke come to Gotham for Nightwings head? Nightwing must find out if one of his toughest enemies wants him dead for money, or just for sport.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed, this fanfiction is based on the universe and characters of DC comics.

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><p>Dick woke up to a piercing sound, it instantly annoyed him, a lot of responsibilities comes from respected vigilantism, and Dick at heart was a soft man. Six foot tall, one hundred and seventy five pounds of muscle, he was strong, fast and precise. He was terrifying as Nightwing, his voice was gravelled from his days as Batman, his body scratched and riddled with bullet holes and healed broken bones, and a couple of ribs that haven't quite set. He was tough, his family knew it, his enemies knew it, but this morning, he wasn't tough, he was tired and a little grumpy and that alarm wasn't helping. It was a long night when Scarecrow decides to resume his experiments on live animals.<p>

Right on time there was a knock on the door, and the alarm was still screaming, just as his cell phone started singing its tuneful alarm getting louder every three seconds. Suddenly Dick was angry with all the noise, he yelled and in his hazy sleep deprived state he managed to fumble the alarms off. He trudged to the door grumbling all the way and opened it to see a familiar red head in a leather jacket, jeans and boots waiting half patiently, half amused.

'Thank God,' Dick exhaled

'You look like crap,' said Barbara, ever the poet, she smiled and walked past Dick into his loft apartment. 'You ok?'

'Hmm' Dick grumbled, 'Long night, Professor Crane got some new pets, dogs and birds, nothing I couldn't handle' he winced due to his ribs, Barbara noticed.

'What's wrong with you? The good doctor looked at your ribs?'

'Of course he didn't. Couple nights ago, outside a bar, guy tried to have his way with a woman and I felt he didn't say pretty please, he pulled a gun out I didn't notice, thank god for nomex'

Barbara nodded, she didn't need to ask how it went, if the vic had died he would be quiet, thoughtful, guilty, if the guy had escaped he'd be angry, and if the guy won Dick wouldn't be here. Reasonable responses for each situation. But Dick was here, a little grumpy, but there was a lot of noise when Barbara got here.

'Coffee?' Dick offered,

'Sure,' Dick poured coffee into a big mug, for himself, offered up a matching cup to her, both an offer and a question, _you staying long?_ Barbara hesitated and nodded, she hadn't seen Dick in a long time and he hadn't smiled yet, and she wasn't overly busy, though she did come for a reason. Dick set down her mug in front of her, and asked 'So why are you here? I'm expecting a call from Bruce, so-'

'Well that's partly why I'm here, Bruce had to go away, he knew you were sleeping after Scarecrow, so he asked me to call, thought I'd come tell you, he has to go away with the League, some stuff Green Lantern accidentally screwed up in Khandaq or something. So of course Black Adam's pissed out of his mind at the rest of the world.'

'Of course, so we gotta look after Gotham for a few days?'

'Or weeks, if nothing else comes up. I called Tim he's on his way home he can help, Damian's at the manor Bruce gave him strict instructions to stay at home'

'Can't wait to see him out on patrol then,'

Barbara giggled, Dick smiled, she immediately smiled back, it had been a few weeks since they've seen each other, crime fighting takes up social life time, she leant in and kissed him, he reached his hand around the back of her neck and held tight, he had missed her.

'Shower.' Babs ordered,

'Excellent decision' Dick replied, he walked into the bathroom, and took off his shirt and boxers, he caught himself in the mirror, he looked awful, dark circles under his eyes, hair everywhere, all across his face, a beard coming on, bite marks on his arms, purple red and blue bruises here and there and a couple of yellow ones healing, slowly. He shaved and showered, showers often feel calming, cleansing, this one hurt, no matter the temperature, it stung.

He came out in a towel, got dressed and poured another mug of coffee, he noticed Barbara had refilled her mug, she was staying for a while.

'How've you been?' he asked tentatively, there were rumours of the Joker resurfacing, Harley had "broken out" of Amanda Waller's super prison Belle Reve, usually when Harley is out and about Joker is soon to follow, a terrifying co dependant couple.

'Fine, you heard about Joker? I heard the Red Hood was tearing down places he had been, even though he's only rumoured to be back'

'Jason?' Dick exclaimed, 'Usually he only goes after solid leads, he's not on any killing spree I need to stop is he?'

'No, no he's fine, Dick you gotta cut him a little slack the Joker _killed _him, Ra's brought him back and Joker was still around, even I've wanted to kill him especially what he did to us all last year and under the caves.'

'Yeah I get that, I do, but he shouldn't go around killing people following a whisper of Joker, I understand, I even kind of _understand_, but as soon as innocents die I need to step in'

'Name one time he's killed an innocent person'

'Alright, alright.'

Barbara always understood Jason when he came back, they never got on too well when he was Robin. Kids. As soon as they learn to punch they think they're invincible, especially with the big bad Batman behind them, Dick was exactly the same even if he would never admit it. People die, but people don't come back, but when you add a Lazarus pit, it causes insanity from a few days to a few years. Luckily it only lasted a few months for Jason. But he was darker when he came out, he died because he cared, his emotions got the better of him and the Joker caught him, beat him, and killed him.

Barbara thought Jason must be so incredibly lonely. She understood Jason's hatred, Joker crippled her for years, the only way she could walk again was thanks to time, persistence, and Bruce. He had researched into spines among other things, his own back was broken by Bane a few years ago, back when Tim was Robin. He had funded the best treatment by the best Doctors, and three years after the bullet tore through her abdomen and lodged into her lower spine, it was removed, nine months later and she was weakly standing. And now, she was back to Batgirl.

Barbara thought for a moment, 'I'll get in touch with Jason, see what whispers he's found,' she started typing a text for Jason,

Dick nodded, he was tired, he would have agreed to pretty much anything.

A few hours later Barbara's phone vibrated, she looked at it and her soft expression became stern, 'now this could be problematic, apparently Wilson might be back'

'Slade?' Dick replied,

'Mm-hmm, Jason found a couple of his assassins a couple blocks from here actually-' she stopped mid-sentence, Dick made the connection too, if Slade Wilson, Deathstroke, was back and a couple of his personal assassins were close to Dick Graysons apartment in Gotham City, then there was a very likely chance they were on their way to kill Dick Grayson. They both dropped to the floor as the glass shattered and wind howled into the room, the counter where Dick was leaning exploded, _big bullet, how flattering, _Dick thought.

The two crawled to the bedroom where their uniforms were, and a handy panic room was installed to change. Once they were battle ready they made a quick assessment, Dick said, 'if it's Deathstroke shooting, he'll want to conserve ammo, he won't shoot if there's a chance he'll miss.'

'And if he had a group of assassins coming for us then there's likely to be more maybe a ground team, so that might not be him, just a wary foot soldier' Barbara added,

'So we have two solid facts. Someone just ruined my counter top with a large gun and large bullet. And Deathstroke is a thing.'

'Yeah, there may be more snipers, there may be people coming, or there's Deathstroke himself coming, they could be outside this panic room waiting to shoot us, or they could have broken down on the way here, or sprained their ankles, the possibilities are endless.'

'I hope Batman hasn't bugged this room he'd hate to hear us like this'

'Shall we?' Barbara smiled,

Dick sighed, opened the door and burst through, if anyone had come in the house alarm would have been blaring. But Dick didn't want to have any extra holes in him, hence the speed. _Who knows, maybe the assassin only brought one bullet? A man can dream…_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed, this fanfiction is based on the universe and characters of DC comics.

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><p>Dick leapt out of the small panic room, his eyes scanning the room first, <em>no immediate bad guys,<em> then his eyes moved to the window for a moment, quickly looking for any flare of glass where there shouldn't be. But the sun was beginning to set, he was blinded. _Clever, the sun is in my eyes, concealing the shooter, terrific._

Barbara followed, Dick was flat on the floor by the door, expecting more gunshots, he needed to gauge where the shooter was. Barbara saw Dick thinking, and stood still for half a second in full view of the window. She was being bait. Then suddenly she too dropped to the floor, just as a second bullet sliced through her hair. Red strands followed her to the floor.

Dick's mask quickly analysed the bullet hole in the glass, for some reason the glass was still intact, _angled._ His vision turned to 'Detective vision' as Bruce calls it. It mapped out the trajectory of the bullet path and it was an angled shot. _One window smashed, must have been more of an angle? This one had less of an angle, hence the hole. Close range._

Barbara had crawled to him and Dick explained his thoughts, she agreed, and then they both believed the best course of action was escape. Without bullet holes if at all possible.

They crawled out of the bedroom to the living room, and Dick pulled down the blinds across the window. They were a dark silver, with the setting sun against it the shooter would be blinded. The two crime fighters relaxed a little, and as expected they heard scuffling of feet outside the door, they had visitors.

They had merely seconds before the room was breached by an undetermined number of professional killers, but Dick still had some security systems installed. Barbara and Dick took cover, Dick behind the sofa near the window, Barbara opened the refrigerator door and slid against it.

They waited. And the door swung open with a crash.

The family didn't often do much together, other than fight crime occasionally, but one thing they did do was paintballing. Something about guns without bullets made them seem much more fun. Bruce was almost semi uncomfortable, Damian and Jason felt right at home, as did Alfred surprisingly, Barbara too, her dad was a cop. Dick however didn't enjoy the shooting and hoping strategy that Tim adopted, he enjoyed using his acrobatics to always be above the family and "shoot bats in a barrel". He usually did extremely well.

Dick had kept four paintball guns. He had modified them, and primed them into semi-automatic paintball guns, and placed them in the space above the ceiling, aimed them down, two at the door, one left of the door, and one right. The guns would fire due to an electric charge, which were routed into two different light switches, either side of the bedroom door. Dick was right in front of one, and he flipped the switch, heard popping and jolted screams, followed by coughing. When the coughing started Nightwing and Batgirl emerged and attacked, their objective was now immobilising the assailants with no gun shots, it only takes one badly placed bullet to kill, and neither wanted to endanger a life of another tenant in the building. Nightwing saw Batgirl out of the corner of his eye, he had taken out one escrima stick, and turned on the stun charge. His plan was broken wrists, and knockout stuns. He counted six bad guys, all armed with rifles, zero handguns or knives. Odd. Easy.

Dick charged through one in a tackle, winding him and knocking him to the ground, the other two had realised what was happening and were turning to him, Nightwing clasped his stick and lunged right, stabbing the stick to the man's neck, right against the jugular, the stick gave a harsh hiss as the electric current passed into skin against nerve and muscle. He didn't pierce the skin, but it would bruise, and swell, and hurt. The merc folded over, clutching his neck. _Clearly not used to pain, not a pro._

He leapfrogged over the falling mercenary and caught the final hired gun's assault rifle in his left hand, he pivoted right and the weapon fell from the man's hands. _Really not a pro,_ Dick smiled.

He relaxed, and heard a horrific crack from behind. And then a sigh. He turned and saw Batgirl standing over her victims. She looked at Nightwing, and lifted her chin. _Behind you…_

Dick took two paces forward just as the mercenarys fist swung past his head. He turned and lifted his left leg, turned, and forced it hard into the stomach of the guy. Batgirl stepped towards them, she had seen the winded "soldier" regaining his breath and she stomped on his knee. Another terrible crash and a scream. And the soldier lost consciousness.

It all took about fifteen seconds.

Dick smiled at Barbara, she smiled back. Her eyes were stunning. Her lips were cracked, as were his. But to him they looked perfect.

They both turned to the only conscious member of the assault team. Batgirl moved the guns further from the sleeping bodies, Nightwing turned the stun off his stick. Batgirl picked up the closest gun and covered the hallway, no need for more surprises. Nightwing grabbed the would-be assassins Kevlar vest and dragged him to the door, tapped Batgirls shoulder, she nodded and moved forward as Nightwing followed.

She lead him to the stairs at the end of the hall, Nightwing had holstered his stick and pressed a button on his wrist, his heads up display in his mask had a waving line along the top, and he spoke clearly 'Lockdown.' He heard a slam as his panic room door closed and bolted, a sliding wall would pass over the door and anyone who would come to the apartment would look in the bedroom and disregard it all.

His masks vision went back to normal. He checked his new captive, _really? Unconscious? I didn't even hit him hard_.

They went up the stairs to the roof, slowly, carefully, Barbara had the safety catch on, the gun wouldn't be firing, but appearance is everything, and her thumb was right next to the catch for warning shots. She flicked her head down and revealed her newest toy, a clear band to go over her eyes, and act as her own HUD and detective vision, as a bat she has a screen on her forearm, but sometimes it's easier to work with what you can see. She activated her thermal vision and blurry lumps of orange appeared against the walls, all different sizes but pretty much all the same shape. She flicked her head up and it deactivated. No use.

They reached the roof door and Batgirl flipped the safety of the rifle off. Much less chance of hitting an innocent here. Nightwing tapped her shoulder again and she opened the door slowly, they walked out and scanned the rooftop, and Nightwing checked the other buildings, he lived here for the height of the building, it was one of the tallest in the area, it would take Deathstroke himself to hit any of them with a sniper from the buildings of the business district. Maybe. With no wind at all and a clear day. And the buildings around them were below them, but to be safe they moved to the east, so that sniper couldn't see or reach them, and if there were any others they'd see a glint.

The soldier was waking up, but everything was odd, his head felt funny, like head rush but it hurt. He felt light. As if he was falling but not moving. He took a moment to enjoy the bliss of ignorance. And then he tried to move, and he realised his predicament. He was hanging upside down over the ledge of a rooftop.

Terror took over, panic and adrenaline surging he looked down at his body and saw a black and blue silhouette. And he was waving at him. And a horned black outline next to him, smaller, but terrifying.

Barbara asked the question with the most obvious answer, 'Who do you work for?'

The soldier just whimpered, and his crotch darkened, spreading over his lap and presumably up his body.

Barbara sighed. Dick smiled. 'Who do you work for?' She repeated, but louder, there was more blood in his head, his ears could be ringing.

'D-deathstroke! Please don't kill me I don't want to die!' he screamed,

'What the hell,' Dick muttered, 'these guys are awful, they go in without backup, only rifles no side arms, not even knives, barely trained, and now they have bad intel, they should know we don't kill especially if they work for Slade.'

Barbara nodded thoughtfully, something definitely wasn't right. The screaming man was still pleading below them. They looked down at him and decided to bring him up and relieve what must be a screaming headache.

Dick started lifting and suddenly it felt a little lighter, as the man's head below burst. In a split second the man was crying out and then one side of his face was shrouded in red mist. Dicks eyes widened as Barbara grabbed him and ran, they both ran hard for the south side and pulled out their grapnels, they leapt off and fired to swing out to the Bat Bunker beneath Wayne Towers.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed, this fanfiction is based on the universe and characters of DC comics.

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><p>The shot had to be perfect. The rifle steady. The shooter fast but relaxed, too tense and a muscle can fail and compromise the shot, and at this great distance a steady base is crucial. There was a slight breeze but it was steady. Easy to compensate, as long as there weren't any rogue winds. The shooter could have hit his target no problem, but not a perfect through and through headshot on a windy day.<p>

Deathstroke stood up from the window, he looked down the scope again, he marvelled in his master shooting.

He looked around at the view of Gotham and reminisced. He always enjoyed jobs here, the police were terrible and he never had to worry about an escape, they often saw the work of an assassin and shrugged with their thumbs up their asses, leaving it to the Bat. And the Bat was one to avoid, unless he was out of town.

Slade Wilson smiled. He packed away his rifle. And left. Stage one of the plan was complete.

Dick had recovered, it was never easy watching someone die, and this was a surprise. He and Barbara had reached the Bat bunker, Barbara took off her cowl and Dick took off his mask. He took off his gloves and ran his fingers through his hair. It was a comfort thing. He sat down in front of a work bench, Barbara leaned against the table and they waited in silence thinking.

'What now?' Dick asked,

Barbara shrugged, 'Find Jason? Hope he hasn't killed those assassins?'

'Sure, get in touch,' Barbara sent the message, Dick said 'the problem with Deathstroke is there could be no need for this, yeah he doesn't like me but there could be no reason for this compulsion. No plot, no scheme, just random precise attacks until we stop him.'

'Hm.' Barbara agreed. From what she'd heard about him he was calculating, tactical and almost unpredictable. She had never dealt with him directly. Not like Dick has. Deathstroke never did anything without a reason and yet he never had a good enough reason for doing anything he did. The reasons were only valid to Slade, Dick never truly understood Slade. It was like a cat person explaining why dogs are terrible to a dog person.

The lights above them flickered. Barbara and Dicks heads shot up, this was a state of the art bunker, filled with extremely expensive and elaborate crime fighting weaponry. The lights don't flicker. But one by one they all started flickering, some were frantic, the others slow, some intermittently. Barbara pulled her cowl back on, Dick threw his mask and gloves on, they crossed the room and looked at the Bat computer, they checked the security systems. _Offline. _This was Bruce Wayne's building, the security systems are never offline. The lights went out, the room was engulfed in darkness, the computer screens had even gone out. Somehow the impossible was happening.

They heard a cheery _Ding!_ And they both turned to wear the elevator was across the room, they didn't see anything so they tried turning on their night vision, but it wasn't responding. _EMP? Somewhere in the room, it hadn't reached the elevator._

A fist flew from the darkness, Dick saw it too late and it crashed against his jaw hard, he stepped back and dodged left. By pure luck he had dodged a bullet as a gun fired right where his head had been, the muzzle flash showed Deathstroke standing in front of him, one gun in his left hand and a sword in his right.

Dick sensed what Slade was going to do next, and he threw himself left, narrowly missing an incoming blade swiping up. Dick and Barbara shot themselves forwards, again Slade opened fire and the muzzle flash helped him track them, but Dick had started moving towards Slade.

_Faster._ Dick thought. His mind was racing, he ran hard and low, bullets were flying through his hair, he was distracting Slade while Barbara flanked him. The computer screens were flickering back to life, causing a strobe light effect, Dick knocked the gun from Slade's hand and took out both of his escrima sticks, he started attacking, precisely, perfectly.

Barbara leapt up high above the men, she came down and struck her knee into the back of Slade's head, he folded forwards as Dick grabbed his neck and thrust his knee into Slade's helmet. It was a hard hit, clearly it did damage, the helmet cracked, shards of it were cast across the floor. Slade brought his sword up as Dick dodged back, narrowly missing the razor sharp blade, and carried on throwing his arms and body back, his hands landed on the floor behind him as he raised his legs into a kick against Slade's chin. Slade turned round to take another kick from Batgirl, Slade spun and slashed out, he caught Barbara's stomach, it pierced the nomex in her suit and cut along her flesh. She winced and her knees faltered.

Dick saw, _deep cut_, _she wouldn't fall if it wasn't serious_. And so Dick Grayson became angry.

Adrenaline surged, he saw targets, ribs, lungs, neck, head, eye, knees, nerve clusters, spine. He attacked furiously, he parried incoming attacks, he stabbed and slashed his sticks into the separations in Slade's armour, he struck an elbow into Slade's remaining eye, causing him to step back and cower, _he's blinded, perfect._

Slade slashed out and Dick grabbed the blade and pivoted back so the sword fell from his hand. Dick spun and kicked behind landing his foot in Slade's knee at an angle. Slade fell on his knee, Dick continued to spin and kicked Slade hard in the head with his left shin. A perfect roundhouse. Slade fell to the floor, he wasn't moving. He may have been dead, Dick didn't care.

Dick ran to Barbara, she was bleeding. He needed to help her, he lifted her and carried her to one of the Batmobiles. 'Dick, no.' Barbara said.

Dick gave a puzzled look. 'You need to stay,' Barbara said, 'the car can take me to the cave on auto but you need to stay here with him, he can't be left alone here.'

Dick pondered a moment, and nodded. He kissed her on the lips and said 'Tell me when you get there. And don't die.'

Barbara smiled and Dick closed the door, a few moments later the car started and rolled away.

Dick turned to Slade's body on the floor. _This all seems.._. _off._ He moved towards Slade and the computers to his left came alive, the only source of light in the room. It held a steady light and showed Slade's face. It said 'Sorry kid, I wanted you dead, and when's the best time to kill someone? After they think they've won.'

And the screen died. Darkness took over again.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters portrayed, this fanfiction is based on the universe and characters of DC comics._

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><p><em>Was this how Jason felt? <em>

Dick felt cold. He ran, threw a wing ding at a Batsuit display case across the room.

The room was still dark and huge, but he knew the room well enough as he started to run, he heard the glass shatter and fall to the floor.

He lifted the cowl and cape from his old Batsuit and darted to the elevator, he pried open the doors and jumped in.

There was no elevator to ride up thankfully, just an empty space below with a large stone and metal contraption in the centre, like a terminal for the elevator to rest on.

Dick cradled himself against the door side wall, he threw his old cowl over his head, and wrapped himself in his cape.

He waited.

Flames engulfed the room, a silent noise shook the building, the blast reverberated through the walls and the floor, Dick was trying to un-tense to no avail.

It wasn't fear he felt, he was far too busy to fear. After what felt like an eternity the heat surrounding Dick seemed to lighten, he dared to open his eyes but saw nothing, it was surprisingly dark. Dick struggled to breathe.

The blast had been large but short, devastating but brief. Now the smoke was the largest concern.

The cowl had been adjusted to fit a breather, which was in the display case across the large room. So Dick had to deal with the smoke by breathing through his cape.

He walked fast across the rubble and debris, there was less than expected but more than enough to be a nuisance.

Dick was exhausted. His muscles had tensed in an instinct to protect himself so hard they ached. Debris had fallen on him from above, the cape dispersed most of the damage, but that didn't stop it from hurting.

Dick reached the now demolished display case, he rooted in it to find his old utility belt and he retrieved his breather. He fitted it to his mask and breathed deeply. Not exactly fresh, but better than breathing smoke.

_Deet deet._

The communicator in his ear rang,

_Deet deet,_

'Yeah?' Dick groaned,

'Nightwing! Are you all right?' A stern voice grumbled in his ear,

'Batman…? Yeah, I'm fine' Dick coughed,

'What happened?' Bruce said, his tone meant business. Could have been around people, but probably not. Who the hell knew.

'Deathstroke,' Dick replied, 'he got into the bunker, he broke it' Dick winced at a pain in his shoulder, everything hurt.

Silence filled the air. Dick always expected Bruce to offer his help, Bruce only ever meant to help and take over but Dick found it nothing more than offensive. Bruce had learnt.

'Where is Slade now?'

Dick looked around. He sighed, 'Not here.'

Bruce waited. Whenever one of the rogues bodies weren't found it usually meant they were still around.

Dick swore.

'That's a dollar,' Bruce mumbled,

'Fuck your swear jar Bruce! How the hell could he get away he was unconscious, like, I just knocked him out I checked! His plan was to die here!'

Dick breathed, Bruce waited.

'The bunker is compromised, the blast was too big, the building wouldn't have collapsed but people upstairs and around us would have felt it. The smoke is also gonna bring people down here.'

'Follow the plan, Dick. You have five minutes.' Bruce said as he disconnected.

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><p>The plan was simple. Take what you can, and get out. There was of course clever storage throughout the bunker. The bunker was underneath gas mains, which would have always exploded in any kind of blast, and of course they did blow. There were vents which let the smoke travel up to the surface and through the building.<p>

Dick left through the driveway, he got on a bat bike and rode off, cape and cowl still on. He used the computer on the bike to suck all air out of the bunker, killing the flames. And he locked it down. No one would be getting in without Bat family access.

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><p>Dick drove fast, but the ride lasted ages, he went the long way, wasting fuel. He needed to think, speed and agility was when he thought best. He arguably had the best reactions of the family, he felt it made him think quicker, no point thinking of one thing too much.<p>

He reached Wayne Manor, he drove into a false wall, leading to the cave. He dismounted and walked to the bat computer. Sat in front of it, shedding his clothes. He sat with only his legs covered. Used the computer to disallow access to the cave. Only Alfred would get in, but he would read the message.

_Something's wrong. With all of this, it's too neat. _

Dick left for the shower in silence. The water burning over his dusty skin. Blood rinsed onto the floor, diluted in the water. He stood looking down at the grey and red water. He crouched down on one knee, a fist on the tiles. His legs couldn't take his weight for the moment.

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><p>He left the shower, wrapped in a towel. Still dripping, still bleeding a little.<p>

He moved below to the medic station. He wrapped himself in bandages. Tight and uncomfortable.

He returned to the computer and found Slade Wilson sitting there, with all of the Bat family's faces on the screen.

'Slade…' Dick whined. 'I'm in a towel how is this fair?' It was the only thing going through his mind.

'War does not wait for you to be ready to die.' Slade answered,

'There's just no need to be an asshole.'

'I was paid to kill all of the Bats, it's much easier to kill you in person, without the costumes on.'

'Armour, they're not costumes. And says you! Your armour is orange how helpful is that to be stealthy and scary?!'

Slade was silent. _Fine._

Slade pounced, he was faster than before, Dick through a leg up to Slade's face, it made contact hard. Slade's body kept moving forwards, his legs still moved although his head was stopped. He tripped Dick hard. Dick clutched his towel. _Not letting Cyclops see my junk. _

They wrestled, falling down the stairs and parted next to the medics station. Slade drew a sword, Dick stepped back towards the armoury.

Slade lunged, Dick kept his distance, he grabbed the tip and spun it out of Slade's grip and stepped around behind Slade, he kicked the back of Slade's leg hard and spun his right leg round and hard into the assassins head.

Slade was down for a moment so Dick ran to the armoury. He dropped the sword and found some underwear as he heard the air split behind him, he dodged left out of the way of a sword. The sword followed Dick left, he threw his body back, hands on the ground and through his legs back and over. Slade slashed low, aiming for Dick's knees. Dick jumped high, lowering his underwear and landed in them.

Dick smiled, he unhooked his towel and wrapped it around the sword as Slade swiped once more. He pulled it away and used his shoulder to barge into Slade's chest hard. He spun again and kicked Slade in the chest. Sending him back to his other sword.

Dick unwrapped the towel from the sword in his hands and clutched its hilt. Slade picked up the sword on the ground.

They lunged at each other, each exchanging blows and cuts, Dick took less but they were worse, he had no protection. Slade disarmed Dick and saw his opportunity. He landed a vicious slice along Dick's torso.

Dick screamed in agony and recoiled. Slade didn't let up, Dick dodged back and to the side. Slade landed another slash across Dick's thigh. Dick snarled and moved back. He picked up two batarangs. Bruce's most recent design. They had a bats wings but the centre could be held firmly.

Dick held them, his fists clenched with two blades coming out of either end. He attacked, sending Slade back step by step, Dick was relentless. If he lost, the rest of the bat family would be in immense danger.

Dick slashed across Slade's face, the blade cut Slade's eye patch, revealing a hideous scar. Dick continued, he slashed against a buckle on Slade's armour. One after the other until Slade was in tatters.

Slade had slowed. He had taken too many hits. Dick was fuelled by rage. He kicked Slade hard in the ribs, he grabbed Slade's head and pushed it down into Dick's thrusted knee. He punched Slade hard in the throat. Slade panicked, everyone always panics at that. Sudden lack of oxygen is terrifying. And it lasts a while.

Slade dropped his sword, he fell to his knees and cowered.

Dick relaxed a little, he breathed heavily.

He took a step and Slade drew his gun, he shot Dick straight in the chest.

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><p>Dick had blacked out. He was on the floor, on his back. Thankfully.<p>

He thought back. _Move your arm._

_Not sticky, no blood. Bullet is in me, no noise behind me after the shot. Would I have heard it?_

_Whatever, still gonna hurt in a second._

The pain was manageable now, but not for long.

_Is he gonna talk? Probably not he's not the Joker. I'm just a job._

Slade's blurry figure came over Dick. He lifted his gun slightly.

_Not yet._

His figure stopped moving as much. Slade's centre of gravity found a good base. Dick clutched the batarang under his hand. He stabbed it hard into Slade's right ankle, through the boot, deep.

Slade shot, and missed by two inches. Dick's ears were ringing.

Slade dropped the gun and fell back. He was screaming.

_Blurred eyes, lots of blood loss, light 't hear a thing. How am I alive…_

Dick's body reluctantly moved. Slade had dropped the gun to Dick's elbow. Dick picked it up, forced himself to stay awake. He lifted the gun, squinted hard and fired the gun into Slade's elbow. Fired again into his left knee. Slade would not be standing for a long time. Slade continued to scream.

_Was that enough to put him down?_

A figure had entered the room, big and dark. Body language looked hostile. _Who…?_

The blurred black figure moved to the side, and threw something from a table. Whatever it was, it struck the gun out of Dick's hand. Dick passed out.

* * *

><p>Bruce Wayne had bypassed the lock on the cave, he heard a gunshot from the cave and had ran fast.<p>

He smelled sweat and gunpowder. He ran to the computer and found a puddle of water. He found some water dispersed by boot prints and a trail of water down the stairs and continued over to the armoury. He entered and saw Dick shoot Deathstroke twice.

Dick turned the gun to Bruce, he dodged left, grabbed a batarang and threw it at the gun in Dick's hand.

He had never seen Dick so focussed, with a fear in his eyes like an animal in a cage.

Dick's head fell to the floor. 'BARBARA!' Bruce screamed. 'DAMIAN! CAVE NOW!'

Bruce stepped over to Slade and stomped on his jaw, hard. It cracked and Slade passed out.

He lifted Dick, blood pooled over Dick's body onto Bruce's t shirt.

Bruce gently laid Dick onto the medics table. Alfred had just reached it and had started preparing an IV and plugged it into Dick's arms. Bruce stepped around the table.

Barbara and Damian were detaining Slade. They brought a gurney and tied him into complicated knots on the table. Not even Slade would be moving. To be sure, they stripped Slade down, and even checked his skin for any metal objects under the skin.

They joined Bruce and Alfred at the medics, standing just outside the small room. Alfred was removing the bullet. Dick's heart was still going, the bullet had entered Dick's right pectoral muscle. He had a collapsed lung, Bruce was blowing air into Dick's through a medics breather.

Alfred removed the bullet and after a while Dick stabilised.

* * *

><p>A few hours later Dick woke up. His eyes blurred as he took in his surroundings.<p>

He saw Bruce sitting high next to the bed. He smiled softly. He was waiting for Dick to speak.

Dick just grumbled. He had been in this position before. Waking up to his best friend. His brother.

'Where's Slade?'

'Blackgate by now. Barbara and Damian will be back soon. You did well.'

'I shot him.'

'You kept him alive. Which is more than he would have done to you. I saw the bullet hole.'

Dick nodded. His left ear was still ringing slightly. 'Heard anything with the bunker?'

'We'll cross that bridge later.'

'Anyone hurt? He found out all of our identities.'

'I know. I've alerted the family. He may sell the information, but first I'll visit him in Blackgate soon.'

Dick nodded again.

'Sleep.' Bruce said. Dick was already drifting.

* * *

><p>Later.<p>

Slade woke up in a cell. He was hooked into machines, pumping blood and fluids. His hands were handcuffed tight into a bed.

He sighed.

A huge figure passed his right side. It made him jump. His body hurt at the sudden motion.

Batman walked to the foot of the bed.

He stared at Slade, 'Wondered if you'd show up.' Slade scoffed.

'You came into my house. You attacked my family. Tell me why I shouldn't break each and every bone you have.'

'Knowledge is power, Bruce.'

Batman didn't reply.

'Heh. No matter how you see it. I've won. And none of you will ever be safe.'

'What is your opinion on global warming?' Batman asked.

'What?' Slade answered, surprised.

What is your opinion on global warming?' Batman repeated.

Slade just looked confused.

'I will give you five million dollars to tell me your opinion on global warming.' Batman said.

Slade's eyes lit up slightly. 'Really?' He said cautiously.

Batman's mouth smiled. 'That is why I have nothing to fear from you, Slade. If the price is right you will tell, but there will be no right price for you. And even if there was, there's no one interested enough to actually pay it. And even if there are, there's no one who can do any damage to me with that information. Some already know it, and they are far more powerful than you, and they have never hurt me.'

Slade forced a laugh, 'Sure.'

Batman smiled broader, 'Just ask my son'

Slade thought about Damian, he had read the file. He realised Batman was right.

He looked up at Batman. But he was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you everyone for your patience. I got a new job and a busy life. Took a while to get this chapter done. Wanted to make it good enough for myself before I released it.<strong>

**Little homage to Batman: Hush at the end. Anyone who's read that book can probably see the similarities. It just seemed to fit.**

**Anyway. Thank you again for your patience! Really hope you enjoy. **


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